For, lo, I will make thee small among the Heathen,.... Or, "I have given thee", or "made thee" m; as if it respected what Edom was at first, a people few in number, and their country not large, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, and after them Abarbinel: but it rather intends what Edom should be n; and which was the reason of gathering the Chaldeans against them, to reduce their number, weaken their strength, and destroy their substance, and so make them a small, feeble, and contemptible people; as follows:
[and] despised among men: for the fewness of their men, the desolation of their country, the consumption of their wealth and riches, their poverty and meanness; see Obadiah 1:2.
m נתתיך "posui", Munster; "reddidi", Piscator; "dedi", V. L. Cocceius, Schmidt. n Dabo, Pagninus, Montanus. So Ben Melech.